The AI Gender Gap Isn’t Appearing in Leadership Ranks. Here’s Why That Matters for CEO Pipelines.

As AI’s integration into the workforce accelerates, the capacity to drive artificial intelligence adoption and lead transformative change is becoming one of the most critical leadership competencies in a CEO’s toolkit.

Yet women CEOs are still less likely to be portrayed as innovators in prevailing media narratives. In 2025, we examined how nearly 750 CEOs were portrayed in the global media, uncovering a concerning trend: men CEOs are twice as likely to be described as “innovators” in media coverage than their women counterparts.

We’ve long known that these descriptions don’t align with women leaders’ true capabilities. Now, data from Russell Reynolds Associates’ H1 2026 Global Leadership Monitor confirms it, showing that the AI adoption gender gap isn’t playing out at the leadership level.

Globally, women leaders (boards, CEOs, C-level, and next gen) are on par—and on several critical measures, surpassing—their male counterparts on key measures around generative AI adoption, confidence in one’s AI skills, and AI governance.

Because boards often use innovation language as a proxy for future-fit leadership, this misrepresentation of women leaders’ true capacity can create an invisible barrier to CEO and C-suite positions that has nothing to do with capability and everything to do with perception.

Explore our findings and learn how boards can sidestep stereotypes to meaningfully expand their CEO succession pipelines.

Men and women are equally confident in their ability to drive AI adoption

Men and women leaders both recognize the inevitability and strategic importance of generative AI, with 95% of women and 91% of men agreeing that a strong understanding of the technology will be required for the future workforce, and 90% of all leaders agreeing that it’s crucial for future leaders (Figure 1).

Women and men also express near identical levels of confidence in their ability to help implement AI in their organizations.

Figure 1: Confidence in AI’s future importance + one’s personal skills, by gender

^{Source: Russell Reynolds Associates’ H1 2026 Global Leadership Monitor, n=1,172 leaders}

Women leaders are slightly more likely than men to have fully adopted AI within their teams

Despite the emerging AI usage gender gap in society writ large, men and women in leadership roles are equally likely to engage with AI.

In fact, women leaders are slightly more likely to report their function has fully adopted AI, with 40% reporting that their teams use GenAI in their day-to-day work, vs 33% of men (Figure 2).

Figure 2: AI implementation progress, by stage and gender

^{Source: Russell Reynolds Associates’ H1 2026 Global Leadership Monitor, n= 1,172 leaders}

For more on the climbing AI adoption rate and what it means for leadership, visit RRA’s “The gap between AI adoption and value realization.”

Women board directors are more likely to have instituted AI governance

Amongst the board members we surveyed, women directors are more likely to report that their organization has taken AI governance actions (Figure 3), with 47% saying their organization has a clearly defined AI policy, compared to 31% of men. Also, 51% of women directors report that their organization has onboarded an AI compliance tool (compared to 40% of men).

Women directors are also more likely to believe their organizations are taking a thoughtful, balanced approach to AI implementation (64% vs 53%). One possible explanation is that stronger policy and compliance infrastructure increases confidence in deployment.

Figure 3: Board members on AI governance adoption, by gender
% of board directors strongly agreeing/agreeing with the following statements

^{Source: Russell Reynolds Associates’ H2 2025 Global Leadership Monitor, n=201 board directors}

As we explored last year, women leaders at every level are more likely to be concerned about AI’s most pressing issues in the workplace, including misinformation and bias perpetuation. It makes sense that women leaders, who’ve likely had to contend with more gender bias throughout their careers than men, are also more likely to be attuned to AI’s bias risks.

That doesn’t mean they’re rejecting the technology, as our adoption data above shows. However, it does suggest that many women leaders are looking to find the right balance between grasping the opportunities AI affords without overlooking its documented risks.

The best board directors recognize that governance does not need to impede effective enterprise adoption. In complex, highly visible enterprises, AI failures (whether ethical, reputational, or regulatory) carry enormous cost. Ensuring these technologies have proper guardrails enables meaningful, long-term growth.

The real risk of flawed perceptions

This data clearly shows that prevailing media narratives (which often serve as a proxy for broader public sentiment) are telling the wrong story about women leaders’ ability to drive tech change and AI adoption.

When innovation is consistently associated with men, organizations risk overlooking proven innovation capacity within other segments of their own leadership ranks. This matters hugely in CEO succession, especially at a moment when CEO pipelines are already under immense pressure.

As the world changes at increasingly rapid speeds, organizations can’t afford to further limit their CEO options, intentionally or not.

"AI is one of the defining leadership challenges of our time, and this research offers an encouraging message: women leaders are already helping organizations turn AI from promise into practice. They are driving adoption, shaping governance, and building the trust necessary for effective innovation. The opportunity now is to ensure our CEO pipelines reflect that reality. Leadership in the AI era requires more than technical fluency—we need judgment, a governance mindset, and a broad set of perspectives needed to build systems that work for everyone. When more women are empowered to lead this work, organizations are better positioned to harness AI's full potential.”

Miriam Vogel
CEO & President, EqualAI

The RRA CEO Progression Blueprint

To learn more, visit The New CEO Progression Blueprint: Expanding Optionality During Uncertain Times.

Authors

Margot McShane co-leads Russell Reynolds Associates’ Board & CEO Advisory practice globally and is the co-founder of RRA Artemis. She is based in San Francisco.
Hetty Pye is a senior member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Board & CEO Advisory practice and is the co-founder of RRA Artemis. She is based in London.
Leah Christianson is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Center for Leadership Insight. She is based in San Francisco.

The authors wish to thank the 2,700+ leaders from RRA’s global network who completed the H1 2026 Global Leadership Monitor. Their responses to the survey have contributed greatly to our understanding of leadership in 2026 and beyond.

The authors also wish to thank Miriam Vogel, President & CEO of Equal AI, for her insights on this important topic and contributions to this article.

External references

• Otis, N. G., Delecourt, S., Cranney, K., & Koning, R. (2024/2025). Global evidence on gender gaps and generative AI (2025). Harvard Business School.
• Barisano, M., Awad, N., Dahik, A., Bedard, J., Monu, U., Mundhra, G., & Lou, K. (2024, May 14). Women leaders in tech are paving the way in GenAI. Boston Consulting Group.
• Bolis, M. (2025, October 27). The AI gender gap paradox. Stanford Social Innovation Review.
• Pew Research Center. (2025, March 27). How the U.S. public and AI experts view artificial intelligence. Pew Research Center.
• Fortune. (October 2025). Fortune AIQ 50. Fortune AIQ 50 ranking | Fortune.